The Community of Madrid is culminating the implementation of the digital season ticket on the mobile, a change that will transform the way to enter the Metro, EMT and intercity buses. According to the Regional Transport Consortium, before the end of 2025 any user with a compatible Android cell phone will be able to use his or her Personal Transport Season Ticket directly from the app Mi Tarjeta Transporte, by bringing the phone close to the turnstile as if it were the classic red card.
This step comes after several previous phases. First, the Virtual Transport Card was launched to load 10-trip tickets, the airport supplement and tourist tickets on the cell phone, and in parallel a pilot test has been developed with thousands of volunteers who already validate their monthly pass with their smartphone. According to the latest information provided by the Community of Madrid, over the next six months the personal travel card can be digitized and recharged from home, without going through machines or tobacconists, and will be used to travel on Metro, EMT, intercity and even Cercanías, as it is integrated into the general regional validation system.
How the Virtual Transport Card works
The operation will be simple, the user downloads the app My Transport Card, digitizes his Personal Transport Pass and from that moment always validates with the cell phone using NFC technology and Google Wallet. For security reasons, the digital version and the physical card cannot be used at the same time. When activating the pass on the phone, the physical card will be disabled and only one active card per person will be allowed. For the time being, the rollout is focused on Android devices; integration with iOS will come later, according to the regional government.
This new system fits into a broader plan that Ayuso and his team have already baptized as “transport of the future”: first, to virtualize the season ticket and multi-person tickets on the mobile; then, to implement anaccount-based ticketing(ABT) modelsimilar to that of London, where the user pays at the end of the day according to the trips made, always applying the cheapest possible fare.